No direct comparisons with the latest MacBook Air. No M1 mention at all. It would be extremely easy to include the MacBook Air and/or Pro in a lot if not most of these benchmarks/comparisons. Even the Intel version.
The MBA is the default laptop of this category and everything should be considered against it. Let's not even mention how inspired Huawei is by MBP's designs. You mention that they are trying to place this in a segment where the Macs are their main competition, but don't feature them in any testing at all?
It's pathetic.
This machine is absolutely obliterated performance wise in all metrics. Specially while on battery.
You only make a poor argument that "an equivalent specced Mac is +800$", but "wins on battery life and performance". Is that fair? Is that the whole relevant story? Wouldn't a competent review also include something like "a 500$ to sometimes 600$ cheaper, completely silent MacBook Air beats this in almost all performance metrics and usage scenarios, sometimes by a lot, and wins heavily in battery life too, but only has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, while a version with the same RAM and Storage costs only 100 to 200$ more"
Why isn't there detailed performance testing while on battery power? These are thin and light machines for a reason. It's incredibly low effort to default to a pathetic "browsing test" and "200 nit video playback" to measure battery life.
People use these devices on the road. The default state of all laptops is unplugged. All performance testing should be done by default while on battery, and a separate one while plugged in, all conditions the same, and conclusions should be made.
Unless someone really really needs windows, these laptops should never be recommended at this point. They have are horrific value compared to what an Air offers while on battery.
But people that only read this review wouldn't know.
The MBA is the default laptop of this category - no, it really isn't. If you need to fit into a Windows infrastructure, the default will likely have a HP, Dell or Thinkpad logo on it. Macs are *horrible* to use in a corporate environment. Given their input into the protocol the Thunderbolt implementation is borked (mostly round MST tagging for multiple displays). But then again the MBA can only drive one external panel.
Your price comparisons are **way** out. A Macbook with 16gb/512GB is not $200 more, it is $400 more minimum - the closest comparitor to this is $1450 - $50 less and that's before discounts which don't exist on Apple.
My team has 50+ laptops - mostly Thinkpad X1 Carbon of various gens, some Macs for the off balls. They are used 95% at a desk with power. That's the PCs and Macs (including the M1 Macbooks).
Go off and have a cuddle with your Macbook and feel great about what a genius you are. Meanwhile the rest of the world is still Windows.
The Macbook Air M1 is significantly better than this laptop, and any Windows laptop in its class. Windows itself is less advanced than MacOS. The only thing Windows has that the Mac doesn't is AAA games. That's it. The Mac does everything else better.
Your Thinkpad X1 Carbon sucks compared to M1 Macs.
I have/had all of those (i7 X1gen6, i7 Matebook XP 2018, M1 MBA), and i7 Latitude 7390.
The Mac is significantly better than all 3. X1 has unreliable fingerprint reader, a dim screen, weirdo Fn vs Cntrl key layout (i know it can be re-mapped in BIOS), overheats like a furnace, etc.
Worst of all, all the Windows machine have various battery-performance issues (sleep/hibernate drain, pickiness on chargers, low charging rate, etc), some of which is due to the common OS layer, and some of which is hardware unique to each machine.
It's not limited to these 4 device samples and generation. This goes back many generations to other machines I've had both on Windows side and Apple. Some of the Windows machine are sanitized as corporate-managed devices, and the others I've kept barebone and lean. After a long enough, I have to assume it's the nature of Windows laptops to have battery-related issues.
I had to buy Macbook pro M1, because I needed a laptop and I couldn't find X1 anywhere and lenovo support told me it may take a very long time. M1 laptops are amazing, but X1 is something else. I will still if I had a choice would go X1, just for the keyboard and Linux.
My wife had a MBP M1 and returned it after a week. Running legacy applications was like using a Core 2 Duo-era Macbook. And MOST PROGRAMS ARE LEGACY PROGRAMS. I don't think people realize even ADOBE hasn't ported even half their creative suite to M1. And many of the legacy apps have known issues. For example, you can't use Adobe Forms for Acrobat. Literally, the program CANNOT RUN on M1.
Well, I do a lot of data science development and also system software developments. M1 is very good. My grip is with macOS. There are so many quirks I want to do which I cannot, but I could in Linux. On the other hand, macOS has much better support on desktop side compared to Linux.
If I could have M1 arm on Linux, ooh that would be one sexy long battery and capable enough muchine.
In the UK at least Lenovo are awful re stock. Like you it showed 2-3 weeks delivery. I ordered 5 at 4.30pm and they arrived the next morning. I even spoke to their business sales team (LenovoPro) who had no idea of leadtimes or stock level. Just how many sales are they losing?
Our software does not work on an M1 Mac. They won't be firing me any time soon. They would fire you, however, if you pushed us moving to M1 Macs since our company would not be able to get work done. The estimated cost of moving our software to an ARM compatible solution is 1.1 million dollars. Our software is used by governments around the world. Those governments ALL use x86...we've not had a single request for an ARM port, M1 or otherwise. That includes the 0.45% of users that use a Mac.
The only thing you'll bite is your tongue or the dirt. I've been in IT mostly in networking for over 25 years with a computer degree. I've had 1000s of clients and I haven't seen anyone use a Mac for work. So my conclusion is that you're just a troll spewing craps. I won't waste any more of my time with you.
I've also been in IT for almost 25 years and Macs has been a part of businesses in parallel with all non-Apple computers where I've worked. It all depends on what the area of work done with the computers. For graphical, typography and design related stuff Macs have often been used while more ”business” stuff such as finance and ”office stuff” has been more of a Windows thing.
Google has been using exclusively MacBook pros for work, Oracle is offering people MacBook pros when employees upgrade hardware. So almost everything runs on MacOS except few programs (outliers), Apple just introduced ARM Macs will take time to port everything. Windows laptops and Macs have their own advantages. But for me battery life, trackpad, MacOS work flow/UI are great compared to Windows laptops.
I would love to hear you explain to me why pages is better than word or google docs online or would you care to explain why most of the world runs windows and isn't macOS the "easy, clean,bloat-free, anyone can do it" kinda os have you ever even tried to do split-screen on a mac, don't even get me started on "system preferences" horrible layout compared to windows even windows search in windows 11 is fairly competitive compared to spotlight and that's on a still beta OS.
I think Pages is much better than Word or Google Docs when it comes to doing page layout work.
Interesting, I don't see how System Preferences is horrible in layout compared to Settings in Windows. And what about having to user interfaces for the settings like it has been in Windows 10 – the ”classic” UI and the ”modern”. If that isn't messy and confusing I don't know what. We also have the fact that most third party apps have different ways of doing the user interface – there is no coherence and many apps still looks like they are designed for Windows 95 or Windows XP.
Good if Windows 11 has a search that is competitive with Spotlight – about time. :D
Agree on the split screen – Windows has better built-in window management than macOS. But I just install the free and open source Rectangle and things are fine: https://rectangleapp.com/
Split screen is easy, what are you talking about ? Did you ever try to switch between virtual desktops in windows how awful it is ? I never used multiple virtual desktops on Windows because it was un intuitive to use, I use it all the time now on MBP.
Haha, just be careful not to get a single hair stuck between your screen and your keyboard on MBA... it might break. So fragile, so useless. On the other side you can throw X1C from your desk and it will just continue working with whatever. One could go on and on and on but there is no way to change simple minded fanboy.
I am still using my 2015 MBP with 5 hours battery life, any windows laptop from 2015 would have 10 mins battery life with fan running at full speed like a jet engine.
Mac OS is a different ecosystem altogether. An average consumer who is looking for Windows laptop will not naturally go and look at Mac Books, just like an average consumer looking at Mac Books will not naturally go and compare with Windows laptops.
So any detailed comparison between the two is moot. It's much better to compare in the same ecosystem.
Not much of a bite, you failed to refute the core problem with the prior post. No one is working on a single monitor in a corporate environment and also being specced out a brand-new $1000+ laptop.
laptops being used 95% at a desk is prob an understatement, its prob closer to 99%. All we issue is laptops unless its going into a lab. they are almost always docked and if they are not actually docked someone is using one someplace else plugged into the wall. About the only time they are not is in meetings for an hour or so doing a presentation.
the other great point is ya a MPA is not powering 2-3 displays when docked like basically every windows laptop does
” Macs are *horrible* to use in a corporate environment.”
Are they? It's not early 21st century anymore. :)
Yet I've been dealing with Macs in a corporate environment during this time, and it has been that bad despite many web based business tools requiring the use of Internet Explorer. Citrix and Microsoft Remote Desktop has helped. Well, those days are gone. Heck, even Internet Explorer isn't much of a thing anymore. :)
At least it depends on what software tools the corporate environment you're using – you definitely can have a corporate environment where Macs work well. You can have a corporate environment without relying on Microsoft products at all just as well has you can have a corporate environment that use a lot of Microsoft products.
Hardly anyone cross-shops windows laptops with macbooks. Direct competitor is Dell XPS or HP Envy. I'd pick either of those over this XPS13 knock-off anyday.
Our team works in enterprise and actually does have a mix of Macbooks and Windows (HP mostly) machines but I agree thats probably not very common. And to really be able to do anything most of us need access to Windows tools so that usually means a VDI.
I really like the look of this Huawei. Seems to hit on most of the things I really look for, build quality, keyboard, and display.
The MBA is the default laptop of this category for journalists. Very few other professionals go with a MBA. If they are hellbent on a Mac, they get a MacBook Pro of some size, and otherwise the default is a high-end machine from HP, Dell, or Lenovo.
The MacBook Air is a computer for non-professionals or writers / students / journalists. That obviously leads to them having an outsized presence in tech reporting, but I've never seen a developer, graphic designer, or video editor rely on a MBA (even though you no doubt could in a pinch).
It sounds like you have a MacBook Air or at really, really love them, and that's fine; but that's not the default laptop for the overwhelming majority of the world.
Unless you are programming mac apps or iphone apps, the majority use windows laptops, sometimes with linux. The days of Macs being for professionals are over, largely thanks to apple themselves.
i would label this more as "California people" as most down there do use MacBooks but its generally because they think windows just sucks because OOOHHHH APPLE GOOD PRODUCT
Not where I work… Most developers are on MacOS for both Android development and (naturally) iOS development. Some Android developers are on Linux.
People need to stop the everything is black or white” thinking. You can do a lot if work in various business with a Mac. You can do a lot if work in various business with PC/Windows computer.
They both work pretty well together too, especially nowadays when there's so much ”working in the cloud” going on.
According to Stack Overflow data, 44% of developers use Windows (or WSL), 30% Mac, and 25% use Linux (rounding and the BSD folks account for that missing 1%). Yeah, that's no horrible representation, but shows that LinkedIn recruiting photos of everything getting a MacBook aren't indicative of the industry (that said front-end developers do, in the States at least, use Macs by a slight majority, but then again, those guys write JavaScript so there's no telling what motivates them).
In the US it is a bit more common to be a developer and use a Mac, but it's still the minority platform by far, and in Europe and elsewhere it's very, very uncommon. Also, the couple of developers I work with who do use Macs don't use MacBook Airs, they use MacBook Pros. I've never encountered anyone in comp-sci besides budget constricted students who use MBAs.
I'd also agree with TheinsanegamerN that now that Windows has WSL in good shape I'd be surprised if Macs don't eventually become solely Swift compilers over the next decade. Apple's whole attitude is around how to lock-in, control, and monetize developers rather than empower them, and that's just so night and day different than any other tech company / platform I've had to work with besides Oracle (at least since Microsoft came to Jesus under Nadella is open-sourcing and cross-platforming everything they get their hands on).
Hum. Odd. Every designer including our video guy use a MacBook air m1 in our company as do several developers. Some have a m1 pro but it offers little extra. Most of the rest use Linux. But then, we don't have an ignorant it department telling ppl what to use, they can pick what they want.
Where i work the owner is a hard core apple guy so all cad, office ppl use apple. Field Programmers, technicians and installers use windows. All the software we use is for windows. There's one manufacturer that states "if you have MacOS good luck". I convinced the owner to buy surface pros 6 for the field guys and they all love it. Look ad drawings, make notes, runs all the lighting controls software all in a very light and decent size. I like having 1 device that will do everything i need. Yes apples devices hardware is pretty sweet but the world runs on windows.
The Mac ecosystem is also an extremely common choice amongst the academic community, am specifically talking about medicos here and its popularity increases are one becomes more senior. In my institute, inwould put its usage as 30% amongst faculty. So yes, while popular, its would still not be majority. Quite a few of us have both the organization supplied windows desktops as well as self procured Macs. Macs are procured nkt because they get the job any better than windows laptops but because they are a statement. And yes, the build quality and the smooth user experience of macs in their base models is something that only recently is being matched by windows laptops
I agree that having an Apple device USED TO make a statement. But if you walk the streets of NYC (or anywhere on east coast) any (sorry to say it) low life has an Iphone 12/Ipad/Imac. It is not a statement anymore. Same goes about comparing build quality. The newest MBA is very very fragile while HP/Dell/Lenovo are way sturdier. And my last point would be: never compare a 1,5k $ mac with a 400 $ wincomp. Even kids know that for more bucks you get more bangs.
I have never once considered the MacBook Air, nor am I interested in it. I'd say a Dell XPS or a Lenovo ThinkPad is the prime comparator. So, maybe not quite so cut and dried as you suggest.
Matebook and Macbook are not direct competitors, because you can't buy a Macbook. You only rent it from Apple until their self-destructing circuitry fails and you have to buy a new one.
Please stop attacking everyone who doesn't simp for your favourite anti-consumer tech corporation.
Honestly I think that your comparison with M1 Apple laptops don't makes any sense. You're talking about two laptops that don't even share the same architecture, what is the meaning to compare an x64 architecture laptop with and ARM one? There's a ton of software you can't even run on an M1 MB, and you will never run, specially in the business segment where there are tons of legacy software that no one will recompile to ARM architecture, and you can't even run an hypervisor to emulate x64 architecture reliably.
The fact that an M1 MB and this laptop have a screen, a keyboard, ram or an hard drive doesn't mean they can be compared, the hardware is only the tip of the iceberg...
Don't get me wrong, I hope we all get rid of x64 and move to ARM, and all laptop producers move to ARM, but now there's no reason to compare this laptop with an M1 MB, specially because all the advantages of the MB came from the M1 soc, all the rest is quite poor as all Apple products, 90% design and 10% usability at a huge price.
I agree, poor form to review this without including a M1 MacBook in the comparisons. Some people coming from Intel Macbooks might be looking to buy a MateBook instead of a M1 Macbook for various reasons (including the need to run Windows) and would have appreciated the comparison.
It's also good to see how the latest Intel Matebooks stack up against a 1 year old M1 MacBook. By extrapolation, this will also give some idea how the soon-to-be-released M2 / M1X MacBook Pro compared to Intel's best.
AnandTech, you missed out on some eyeball attention here which would have helped with your advertising income.
You bet, still unvaccinated to this day while at the same time managing to not get infected even once. If you are careful enough to sanitize your hands thoroughly like I am you don't need any vaccine.
"US accuses Huawei of spying" the first was caught dozens of times spying on everyone, including their own citizens. The second is accused every couple of months and I never hear of any evidence popping up. Hmmmmmmm
Looks decent besides the battery life & lack of Thunderbolt 3. On any $1000 base MSRP Tiger Lake design, TB3 should be standard. Likewise, why does it list LPDDR4X-3733 when TGL-U supports 4266?
Alas, if we're comparing it to MacBooks, we should try to bring in macOS devices to the standard AnandTech notebook bench suite. Software, I'll figure it out, but getting a late-model MacBook (preferably Arm / M1) as a comparison would let us, the reader, really see these comparisons.
But, the price: wow. I don't know where the money has gone, but TB3 + higher system efficiency should really be expected at this price point. It's a pricey laptop--besides gaming and workstations, it lives in the highest price bracket for Windows PCs.
I am quite glad, however, to see Huawei maintain their 3:2 displays: 16:9 needs alternatives in every segment.
I DJ and make music, I bought an Asus Zenbook 13, after a few months with it I wish to hell I'd waited for M1 support to be added to the software I used. This thing cost the same as an M1 Air, I'm most annoyed at how the fan will often times spin relentlessly even when I'm doing nothing. And even though it's only 2 months old, apparently it's already lost 30% of it's value so if I wanted to try and sell it I'd lose my ass.
How do you physically defeat the power button's fingerprint reader without also compromising the button itself? Would a couple of layers of carefully cut scotch or packing tape work? It's pretty disgusting to see a fingerprint reader built into a place on the laptop that I cannot avoid touching. The spy devices need to be located elsewhere. It's already enough of a pain to have to open laptop display assemblies to remove the mic and camera. I really don't want to rip out the power button as well. :(
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Oliveira_Salazar - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Very poor review.No direct comparisons with the latest MacBook Air. No M1 mention at all.
It would be extremely easy to include the MacBook Air and/or Pro in a lot if not most of these benchmarks/comparisons. Even the Intel version.
The MBA is the default laptop of this category and everything should be considered against it. Let's not even mention how inspired Huawei is by MBP's designs. You mention that they are trying to place this in a segment where the Macs are their main competition, but don't feature them in any testing at all?
It's pathetic.
This machine is absolutely obliterated performance wise in all metrics. Specially while on battery.
You only make a poor argument that "an equivalent specced Mac is +800$", but "wins on battery life and performance". Is that fair? Is that the whole relevant story? Wouldn't a competent review also include something like "a 500$ to sometimes 600$ cheaper, completely silent MacBook Air beats this in almost all performance metrics and usage scenarios, sometimes by a lot, and wins heavily in battery life too, but only has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, while a version with the same RAM and Storage costs only 100 to 200$ more"
Why isn't there detailed performance testing while on battery power? These are thin and light machines for a reason. It's incredibly low effort to default to a pathetic "browsing test" and "200 nit video playback" to measure battery life.
People use these devices on the road. The default state of all laptops is unplugged. All performance testing should be done by default while on battery, and a separate one while plugged in, all conditions the same, and conclusions should be made.
Unless someone really really needs windows, these laptops should never be recommended at this point. They have are horrific value compared to what an Air offers while on battery.
But people that only read this review wouldn't know.
dontlistentome - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
I'll bite.The MBA is the default laptop of this category - no, it really isn't. If you need to fit into a Windows infrastructure, the default will likely have a HP, Dell or Thinkpad logo on it. Macs are *horrible* to use in a corporate environment. Given their input into the protocol the Thunderbolt implementation is borked (mostly round MST tagging for multiple displays). But then again the MBA can only drive one external panel.
Your price comparisons are **way** out. A Macbook with 16gb/512GB is not $200 more, it is $400 more minimum - the closest comparitor to this is $1450 - $50 less and that's before discounts which don't exist on Apple.
My team has 50+ laptops - mostly Thinkpad X1 Carbon of various gens, some Macs for the off balls. They are used 95% at a desk with power. That's the PCs and Macs (including the M1 Macbooks).
Go off and have a cuddle with your Macbook and feel great about what a genius you are. Meanwhile the rest of the world is still Windows.
lemurbutton - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
I'll bite.The Macbook Air M1 is significantly better than this laptop, and any Windows laptop in its class. Windows itself is less advanced than MacOS. The only thing Windows has that the Mac doesn't is AAA games. That's it. The Mac does everything else better.
Your Thinkpad X1 Carbon sucks compared to M1 Macs.
They should fire you for not buying M1 Macs.
dontlistentome - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
I have both (X1 Gen 9 / MBA M1). Do you?dnanatech - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
I have/had all of those (i7 X1gen6, i7 Matebook XP 2018, M1 MBA), and i7 Latitude 7390.The Mac is significantly better than all 3. X1 has unreliable fingerprint reader, a dim screen, weirdo Fn vs Cntrl key layout (i know it can be re-mapped in BIOS), overheats like a furnace, etc.
Worst of all, all the Windows machine have various battery-performance issues (sleep/hibernate drain, pickiness on chargers, low charging rate, etc), some of which is due to the common OS layer, and some of which is hardware unique to each machine.
It's not limited to these 4 device samples and generation. This goes back many generations to other machines I've had both on Windows side and Apple. Some of the Windows machine are sanitized as corporate-managed devices, and the others I've kept barebone and lean. After a long enough, I have to assume it's the nature of Windows laptops to have battery-related issues.
gescom - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
"Thinkpad X1 Carbon sucks compared to M1 Macs"Please do elaborate.
mmrezaie - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
I had to buy Macbook pro M1, because I needed a laptop and I couldn't find X1 anywhere and lenovo support told me it may take a very long time. M1 laptops are amazing, but X1 is something else. I will still if I had a choice would go X1, just for the keyboard and Linux.Samus - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
My wife had a MBP M1 and returned it after a week. Running legacy applications was like using a Core 2 Duo-era Macbook. And MOST PROGRAMS ARE LEGACY PROGRAMS. I don't think people realize even ADOBE hasn't ported even half their creative suite to M1. And many of the legacy apps have known issues. For example, you can't use Adobe Forms for Acrobat. Literally, the program CANNOT RUN on M1.https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/apple-...
So unless you exclusively use Apple software and treat the machine like a toy for Safari, Mail and Photos, it's unreliable and the power is wasted.
She went back to using her 2018 MBP and fixed the keyboard that was the problem anyway, and will wait a year or two before revisiting a new Macbook.
mmrezaie - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
Well, I do a lot of data science development and also system software developments. M1 is very good. My grip is with macOS. There are so many quirks I want to do which I cannot, but I could in Linux. On the other hand, macOS has much better support on desktop side compared to Linux.If I could have M1 arm on Linux, ooh that would be one sexy long battery and capable enough muchine.
star-affinity - Saturday, October 2, 2021 - link
”My grip is with macOS. There are so many quirks I want to do which I cannot, but I could in Linux.”Could you mention a few examples of those quriks? Just curios...
dontlistentome - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
In the UK at least Lenovo are awful re stock. Like you it showed 2-3 weeks delivery. I ordered 5 at 4.30pm and they arrived the next morning. I even spoke to their business sales team (LenovoPro) who had no idea of leadtimes or stock level. Just how many sales are they losing?eek2121 - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Our software does not work on an M1 Mac. They won't be firing me any time soon. They would fire you, however, if you pushed us moving to M1 Macs since our company would not be able to get work done. The estimated cost of moving our software to an ARM compatible solution is 1.1 million dollars. Our software is used by governments around the world. Those governments ALL use x86...we've not had a single request for an ARM port, M1 or otherwise. That includes the 0.45% of users that use a Mac.m00bee - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Most proletary office software doesn't run om macs, at least not on my office.sonny73n - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
@lemurbuttonThe only thing you'll bite is your tongue or the dirt. I've been in IT mostly in networking for over 25 years with a computer degree. I've had 1000s of clients and I haven't seen anyone use a Mac for work. So my conclusion is that you're just a troll spewing craps. I won't waste any more of my time with you.
star-affinity - Saturday, October 2, 2021 - link
@sonny73nI've also been in IT for almost 25 years and Macs has been a part of businesses in parallel with all non-Apple computers where I've worked. It all depends on what the area of work done with the computers. For graphical, typography and design related stuff Macs have often been used while more ”business” stuff such as finance and ”office stuff” has been more of a Windows thing.
gund8912 - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
Google has been using exclusively MacBook pros for work, Oracle is offering people MacBook pros when employees upgrade hardware. So almost everything runs on MacOS except few programs (outliers), Apple just introduced ARM Macs will take time to port everything.Windows laptops and Macs have their own advantages.
But for me battery life, trackpad, MacOS work flow/UI are great compared to Windows laptops.
Linustechtips12 - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
I would love to hear you explain to me why pages is better than word or google docs online or would you care to explain why most of the world runs windows and isn't macOS the "easy, clean,bloat-free, anyone can do it" kinda os have you ever even tried to do split-screen on a mac, don't even get me started on "system preferences" horrible layout compared to windows even windows search in windows 11 is fairly competitive compared to spotlight and that's on a still beta OS.star-affinity - Saturday, October 2, 2021 - link
I think Pages is much better than Word or Google Docs when it comes to doing page layout work.Interesting, I don't see how System Preferences is horrible in layout compared to Settings in Windows. And what about having to user interfaces for the settings like it has been in Windows 10 – the ”classic” UI and the ”modern”. If that isn't messy and confusing I don't know what. We also have the fact that most third party apps have different ways of doing the user interface – there is no coherence and many apps still looks like they are designed for Windows 95 or Windows XP.
Good if Windows 11 has a search that is competitive with Spotlight – about time. :D
Agree on the split screen – Windows has better built-in window management than macOS. But I just install the free and open source Rectangle and things are fine: https://rectangleapp.com/
gund8912 - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
Split screen is easy, what are you talking about ?Did you ever try to switch between virtual desktops in windows how awful it is ? I never used multiple virtual desktops on Windows because it was un intuitive to use, I use it all the time now on MBP.
Kuhar - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
Haha, just be careful not to get a single hair stuck between your screen and your keyboard on MBA... it might break. So fragile, so useless. On the other side you can throw X1C from your desk and it will just continue working with whatever. One could go on and on and on but there is no way to change simple minded fanboy.star-affinity - Saturday, October 2, 2021 - link
What? The MacBook's with their all-aluminum enclosure are more fragile than X1C?gund8912 - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
I am still using my 2015 MBP with 5 hours battery life, any windows laptop from 2015 would have 10 mins battery life with fan running at full speed like a jet engine.MobiusPizza - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
Mac OS is a different ecosystem altogether. An average consumer who is looking for Windows laptop will not naturally go and look at Mac Books, just like an average consumer looking at Mac Books will not naturally go and compare with Windows laptops.So any detailed comparison between the two is moot. It's much better to compare in the same ecosystem.
lmcd - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
Not much of a bite, you failed to refute the core problem with the prior post. No one is working on a single monitor in a corporate environment and also being specced out a brand-new $1000+ laptop.Where on earth have you been?
sibuna - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
This clearly isn't true. New deployments for us are a single 22" monitor. and an HP zbook CAD/standard depending on role.sibuna - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
laptops being used 95% at a desk is prob an understatement, its prob closer to 99%. All we issue is laptops unless its going into a lab. they are almost always docked and if they are not actually docked someone is using one someplace else plugged into the wall. About the only time they are not is in meetings for an hour or so doing a presentation.the other great point is ya a MPA is not powering 2-3 displays when docked like basically every windows laptop does
markiz - Friday, October 1, 2021 - link
Any particular reason you don't deploy desktops then? Give laptops only to those that travel and work from home?star-affinity - Saturday, October 2, 2021 - link
” Macs are *horrible* to use in a corporate environment.”Are they?
It's not early 21st century anymore. :)
Yet I've been dealing with Macs in a corporate environment during this time, and it has been that bad despite many web based business tools requiring the use of Internet Explorer. Citrix and Microsoft Remote Desktop has helped. Well, those days are gone. Heck, even Internet Explorer isn't much of a thing anymore. :)
At least it depends on what software tools the corporate environment you're using – you definitely can have a corporate environment where Macs work well. You can have a corporate environment without relying on Microsoft products at all just as well has you can have a corporate environment that use a lot of Microsoft products.
dandar - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Hardly anyone cross-shops windows laptops with macbooks. Direct competitor is Dell XPS or HP Envy. I'd pick either of those over this XPS13 knock-off anyday.Operandi - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Our team works in enterprise and actually does have a mix of Macbooks and Windows (HP mostly) machines but I agree thats probably not very common. And to really be able to do anything most of us need access to Windows tools so that usually means a VDI.I really like the look of this Huawei. Seems to hit on most of the things I really look for, build quality, keyboard, and display.
gijames1225 - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
The MBA is the default laptop of this category for journalists. Very few other professionals go with a MBA. If they are hellbent on a Mac, they get a MacBook Pro of some size, and otherwise the default is a high-end machine from HP, Dell, or Lenovo.The MacBook Air is a computer for non-professionals or writers / students / journalists. That obviously leads to them having an outsized presence in tech reporting, but I've never seen a developer, graphic designer, or video editor rely on a MBA (even though you no doubt could in a pinch).
It sounds like you have a MacBook Air or at really, really love them, and that's fine; but that's not the default laptop for the overwhelming majority of the world.
skavi - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
you appear to be forgetting about programmers.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Unless you are programming mac apps or iphone apps, the majority use windows laptops, sometimes with linux. The days of Macs being for professionals are over, largely thanks to apple themselves.lemurbutton - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Everyone in Silicon Valley uses a Mac, except for the finance department.Linustechtips12 - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
i would label this more as "California people" as most down there do use MacBooks but its generally because they think windows just sucks because OOOHHHH APPLE GOOD PRODUCTSaolDan - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
So true. California is apple land.vladx - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
Here in Europe, less than 10% of programmers use a Mac so YMMV.The_Assimilator - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
No, the only people who use Macs are the people who don't do any actual work. Sales, marketing, C-level execs.star-affinity - Saturday, October 2, 2021 - link
Not where I work…Most developers are on MacOS for both Android development and (naturally) iOS development.
Some Android developers are on Linux.
People need to stop the everything is black or white” thinking. You can do a lot if work in various business with a Mac. You can do a lot if work in various business with PC/Windows computer.
They both work pretty well together too, especially nowadays when there's so much ”working in the cloud” going on.
Illyan - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
in the real world developers heavily use macs, dont know where you're getting this "the days of Macs being for professionals are over" idea fromgijames1225 - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
According to Stack Overflow data, 44% of developers use Windows (or WSL), 30% Mac, and 25% use Linux (rounding and the BSD folks account for that missing 1%). Yeah, that's no horrible representation, but shows that LinkedIn recruiting photos of everything getting a MacBook aren't indicative of the industry (that said front-end developers do, in the States at least, use Macs by a slight majority, but then again, those guys write JavaScript so there's no telling what motivates them).Now, we'll have to see
gijames1225 - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
In the US it is a bit more common to be a developer and use a Mac, but it's still the minority platform by far, and in Europe and elsewhere it's very, very uncommon. Also, the couple of developers I work with who do use Macs don't use MacBook Airs, they use MacBook Pros. I've never encountered anyone in comp-sci besides budget constricted students who use MBAs.I'd also agree with TheinsanegamerN that now that Windows has WSL in good shape I'd be surprised if Macs don't eventually become solely Swift compilers over the next decade. Apple's whole attitude is around how to lock-in, control, and monetize developers rather than empower them, and that's just so night and day different than any other tech company / platform I've had to work with besides Oracle (at least since Microsoft came to Jesus under Nadella is open-sourcing and cross-platforming everything they get their hands on).
vladx - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
" you appear to be forgetting about programmers."I'm a programmer and would never buy a MacOS device, there's a world outside US you know.
jospoortvliet - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Hum. Odd. Every designer including our video guy use a MacBook air m1 in our company as do several developers. Some have a m1 pro but it offers little extra. Most of the rest use Linux. But then, we don't have an ignorant it department telling ppl what to use, they can pick what they want.dontlistentome - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
How do they manage with just 16GB and a single external screen?SaolDan - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
Where i work the owner is a hard core apple guy so all cad, office ppl use apple. Field Programmers, technicians and installers use windows. All the software we use is for windows. There's one manufacturer that states "if you have MacOS good luck". I convinced the owner to buy surface pros 6 for the field guys and they all love it. Look ad drawings, make notes, runs all the lighting controls software all in a very light and decent size. I like having 1 device that will do everything i need. Yes apples devices hardware is pretty sweet but the world runs on windows.drvivek - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
The Mac ecosystem is also an extremely common choice amongst the academic community, am specifically talking about medicos here and its popularity increases are one becomes more senior. In my institute, inwould put its usage as 30% amongst faculty. So yes, while popular, its would still not be majority. Quite a few of us have both the organization supplied windows desktops as well as self procured Macs. Macs are procured nkt because they get the job any better than windows laptops but because they are a statement. And yes, the build quality and the smooth user experience of macs in their base models is something that only recently is being matched by windows laptopsSaolDan - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
This comment is pretty sad. Its all about making statements now. All about how others see us.Kuhar - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
I agree that having an Apple device USED TO make a statement. But if you walk the streets of NYC (or anywhere on east coast) any (sorry to say it) low life has an Iphone 12/Ipad/Imac. It is not a statement anymore. Same goes about comparing build quality. The newest MBA is very very fragile while HP/Dell/Lenovo are way sturdier. And my last point would be: never compare a 1,5k $ mac with a 400 $ wincomp. Even kids know that for more bucks you get more bangs.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
LOL nobody cares about apples. Those who are in the mac cult will buy macs, the rest of the world will continue to ignore them.Illyan - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
ah youre a gamer that explains ittimecop1818 - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
> No direct comparisons with the latest MacBook Air. No M1 mention at all.nobody gives a shit about apple laptop that doesn't even run windows anymore.
The_Assimilator - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Even though I agree that these Matebooks are stupidly overpriced, your obvious Apple fanboyism almost entirely negates your arguments.Evil Underlord - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
I have never once considered the MacBook Air, nor am I interested in it. I'd say a Dell XPS or a Lenovo ThinkPad is the prime comparator. So, maybe not quite so cut and dried as you suggest.DougMcC - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
Just wanted to congratulate you on this troll. 5+ pages of angry responses!Kuhar - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
:DWereweeb - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
Matebook and Macbook are not direct competitors, because you can't buy a Macbook. You only rent it from Apple until their self-destructing circuitry fails and you have to buy a new one.Please stop attacking everyone who doesn't simp for your favourite anti-consumer tech corporation.
T4sslehoff - Sunday, October 3, 2021 - link
Honestly I think that your comparison with M1 Apple laptops don't makes any sense.You're talking about two laptops that don't even share the same architecture, what is the meaning to compare an x64 architecture laptop with and ARM one?
There's a ton of software you can't even run on an M1 MB, and you will never run, specially in the business segment where there are tons of legacy software that no one will recompile to ARM architecture, and you can't even run an hypervisor to emulate x64 architecture reliably.
The fact that an M1 MB and this laptop have a screen, a keyboard, ram or an hard drive doesn't mean they can be compared, the hardware is only the tip of the iceberg...
Don't get me wrong, I hope we all get rid of x64 and move to ARM, and all laptop producers move to ARM, but now there's no reason to compare this laptop with an M1 MB, specially because all the advantages of the MB came from the M1 soc, all the rest is quite poor as all Apple products, 90% design and 10% usability at a huge price.
Pacinamac - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
The first word is a typo... Bravo.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
Anandtec kuality.dontlistentome - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
This reads like he's absolutely knackered. He's picked up for Ryan over the past few weeks, give him a bit of slack.But you can fire the sub-editor who reviewed it :).
The_Assimilator - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
You mean the sub-editor that doesn't exist?Tomatotech - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
I agree, poor form to review this without including a M1 MacBook in the comparisons. Some people coming from Intel Macbooks might be looking to buy a MateBook instead of a M1 Macbook for various reasons (including the need to run Windows) and would have appreciated the comparison.It's also good to see how the latest Intel Matebooks stack up against a 1 year old M1 MacBook. By extrapolation, this will also give some idea how the soon-to-be-released M2 / M1X MacBook Pro compared to Intel's best.
AnandTech, you missed out on some eyeball attention here which would have helped with your advertising income.
ballsystemlord - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
A lot of things in this review are missing. For example, the color accuracy.webdoctors - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link
At this price I'd be looking at the Mac offerings.Bik - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
Very good indepth review with zero bias. An order of magnitude better than those notebookcheck reviews.Prestissimo - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
With the recent "Huawei phone spyware debacle" in Europe, I will NEVER buy or endorse a Huawei product in my life.Nice design though, kind of looks like that one popular Ultrabook you see everywhere.
vladx - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
> With the recent "Huawei phone spyware debacle"Source?
DougMcC - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-accuses-huawei-...vladx - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
Oh so you were referring to the usual baseless accusations, got it.Prestissimo - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/202...vladx - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
Just more FUD, it's common knowledge that Lithuania has a bone to pick with China.DougMcC - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
Sure, if you consider government advisories baseless. Be sure to avoid that covid vaccination!vladx - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
You bet, still unvaccinated to this day while at the same time managing to not get infected even once. If you are careful enough to sanitize your hands thoroughly like I am you don't need any vaccine.Wereweeb - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
"US accuses Huawei of spying" the first was caught dozens of times spying on everyone, including their own citizens. The second is accused every couple of months and I never hear of any evidence popping up. HmmmmmmmDougMcC - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
That just establishes the credibility of the US as an expert on spying ...DougMcC - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
My first thought as well 'which generation of spy chips does it include'?ikjadoon - Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - link
Looks decent besides the battery life & lack of Thunderbolt 3. On any $1000 base MSRP Tiger Lake design, TB3 should be standard. Likewise, why does it list LPDDR4X-3733 when TGL-U supports 4266?Alas, if we're comparing it to MacBooks, we should try to bring in macOS devices to the standard AnandTech notebook bench suite. Software, I'll figure it out, but getting a late-model MacBook (preferably Arm / M1) as a comparison would let us, the reader, really see these comparisons.
But, the price: wow. I don't know where the money has gone, but TB3 + higher system efficiency should really be expected at this price point. It's a pricey laptop--besides gaming and workstations, it lives in the highest price bracket for Windows PCs.
I am quite glad, however, to see Huawei maintain their 3:2 displays: 16:9 needs alternatives in every segment.
QueBert - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
I DJ and make music, I bought an Asus Zenbook 13, after a few months with it I wish to hell I'd waited for M1 support to be added to the software I used. This thing cost the same as an M1 Air, I'm most annoyed at how the fan will often times spin relentlessly even when I'm doing nothing. And even though it's only 2 months old, apparently it's already lost 30% of it's value so if I wanted to try and sell it I'd lose my ass.Wereweeb - Thursday, September 30, 2021 - link
Upgradeability? Repairability?PeachNCream - Friday, October 1, 2021 - link
How do you physically defeat the power button's fingerprint reader without also compromising the button itself? Would a couple of layers of carefully cut scotch or packing tape work? It's pretty disgusting to see a fingerprint reader built into a place on the laptop that I cannot avoid touching. The spy devices need to be located elsewhere. It's already enough of a pain to have to open laptop display assemblies to remove the mic and camera. I really don't want to rip out the power button as well. :(sweetca - Tuesday, October 5, 2021 - link
I prefer my spying domestic.crunch418 - Monday, April 25, 2022 - link
https://kfc-breakfast-menu.website/KFC is a fast-food restaurant chain based in America, also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken. It is loved by people worldwide for its fried chicken.
KFC has become so successful worldwide due to the crispy and crunchy chicken products it serves, which no other restaurant chain has completed.
Oliver Wilson - Monday, July 4, 2022 - link
I found the screen's aspect ratio surprisingly comfortable. Moreover, the screen is bright. I hate the camera placement though.